The Beauty of it All
by LittleMissBones
Summary: In which life is seen by three children and the adults they would become. Major AU.
1. Kite Flying

**A/N**: Just a short little story about three DHARMA kids and how their lives were intertwined. This could be an AU.

He is happy today.

He and the rest of his kindergarten class are flying kites outside. Normally, they aren't able to, since the Hostiles could see the kites and mistake them for some sort of signal, but it is sunny outside and the wind is just picking up, even Teacher can't resist the call of the outdoors. So here they are, holding diamonds up in the sky with wind and strings, watching as the ribbons attached dance in the breeze.

His twin sister is standing next to him, her brunette bangs flying in the wind and her long hair trying to escape from its scrunchie, failing miserably. They're racing, trying to see whose kite can fly higher, farther away from the earth. Laughing and running, they continue the race until his sister trips on a rock.

"Please be careful, Marie!" Teacher shouts, but neither of them pays attention. Marie just gets up, laughs happily that her kite stayed up, and chases after him. They've stopped running to just watch their kites, and he sees the girl sitting by herself, crying. She's new here. Teacher is sitting with her. Maybe she's lonely, his six and a half-year-old self wonders. Checking to see if Marie is occupied, he goes over to see what is wrong, and he sees a kite next to her, a big hole ripped through its center. So that is why she is sad: her kite ripped. Overcome with a strange feeling, he walks over to her. He stands next to her and silently hands her his kite spool.

"Here," he says. She looks up, and her bright red hair falls away from her face, revealing crystal blue eyes – a color that he's never seen before. He thinks she is very pretty and swallows, suddenly nervous. He motions towards the spool. "You can take mine."

"Really?" she asks in a strange accent. He nods. She stands, smiles, dries her tears on her sleeves, and takes the spool from his hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Teacher has walked away now to check on the other children, so they are alone. He nervously fiddles with his hands, then formally introduces himself. "I'm Daniel."

She takes his hand in her free one and shakes it, forcing him to look her in the eye. "My name is Charlotte."


	2. Birthdays

**A/N**: The second chapter. It's a bit more fluffy. And I'm also making Daniel and Marie about a year and a half older than Charlotte, so they would have been born around February 1969 (seeing as Charlotte's new birthday is July 2, 1970). So chapter one would have taken place in April-May 1975.

It's been over a year since Daniel met the little red-haired girl called Charlotte, and if you could see them now, you would have not believed that they were virtual strangers just a short time ago. They constantly play together, sit together, run off to explore the island together; though of course not without Marie. She met Charlotte just after Daniel did, when he invited her to sit with them at snacktime.

The three have been inseparable ever since. They wreak havoc, according to Daniel and Marie's mother, who strongly disapproves of the friendship. Her children were so good before _that British brat _(what she calls Charlotte when she's out of earshot) came along. Her words have a hint of truth to them, as Charlotte usually instigates whatever trouble they get into. Horace just laughs off her complaints and fondly calls them "The Three Musketeers." Charlotte's parents are just happy she has friends.

Today is even more exciting because it's Charlotte's sixth birthday, and she is having a small party at her house. Daniel and Marie skip happily, clutching their present for her (a skipping rope) and a homemade card. Charlotte lets them in excitedly, and they go sit with the other children, play a few games, open presents, sing "Happy Birthday", and eat the cake and ice cream provided by Charlotte's mother.

They've been let outside to run off the sugar rushes that accompanied the cake and ice cream, and Charlotte sees this as an opportunity. Grabbing Daniel and Marie's hands, she leads them away from the rest of the distracted group, who have decided to play hide-and-go-seek. "Come on," she whispers, "I have to show you something." They obediently follow her, sneaking safely away from the other children (who none of them really like) and out of the pylons.

It's somewhat of a long walk, but they finally come to their destination: a stone well. Exploring around it, Marie wonders aloud why Charlotte has brought them here. Her answer is that she thinks it could be a good hiding spot for them, kind of like a secret tree house. The twins wholeheartedly agree, and Marie wanders off by herself to explore some more. Daniel nervously approaches her. "Charlotte?"

"Yes?"

"I didn't give you your birthday present."

She laughs. "Yes you did Danny. It was the skip-rope that you and Marie gave me, remember?"

He laughs nervously. "That was Marie's present to you. Not mine." Noticing her confused look, he pulls out the tiny package sitting in his pocket the whole time. "Happy birthday, Charlotte." She takes it and unwraps it, the heart-shaped box's clear lid revealing what was inside. "Chocolates!" she shrieks, then pulls him into a tight hug. "Oh thank you Danny, thank you!"

He wraps his arms around her, an incredible feeling of happiness surging inside of him so fast that he thinks he'll burst if he gets happier. The moment is broken; however, when Marie runs back, screaming that she saw some Hostiles and they need to run. _Now_. Daniel grabs Charlotte's hand and the three of them run as fast as their little legs can carry them back to the compound. This proved to be a big mistake, as Mr. LaFleur catches them sneaking back in and drags them to their parents, who are anxiously waiting for them in the security building.

The three of them get a sound scolding and a spanking each, but all of them know that they'll always have the well to go to.

This doesn't last long, as Daniel and Marie leave on the submarine three weeks after Charlotte's birthday. She departs six months after them, wondering if she would ever see her best friends again.


	3. Graduation

**A/N**: This takes place in 1991, 16 years after they leave the island. Daniel and Marie are 22 and Charlotte is 20. This is also more AU because I am putting Daniel, Marie, and Mama Hawking in the Dharma Initiative (however Widmore is still their father) and not making Theresa Daniel's girlfriend. She is too in the way.

It's graduation day, and Marie is amazed at how fast the time flew at university. She and Daniel had both had enough talent in school to earn full scholarships to Oxford, which, to their mother's pride and joy, they had happily accepted. Daniel had decided to major in physics and she had been a biochemistry major. That is, until nerves and her mother's constant criticisms got to her halfway through her freshman year (it wasn't easy being the daughter of Eloise Hawking) and she switched her major to journalism. Her horrified mother attempted to get her to switch back, citing that journalism was a volatile job, but Marie had stubbornly stood her ground and she now had a job as a news anchor in Washington, DC to look forward to once she made it back to the states. That didn't stop her mother from cutting her out of her will and leaving everything to Daniel (he secretly went behind their mother's back and promised Marie half of everything), but Marie didn't care. She pulls on her gown and smiles in the mirror, fondly recalling all of the good times she and Daniel had. Especially with Charlotte.

They had maintained a letter contact with her over the years, and she even came to visit them one summer when they were teenagers, though it was only for two weeks. Then, while applying to schools, they had discovered she lived in Bromsgrove, which was one of the driving factors into them accepting Oxford. She had helped them move in, fully supported Marie in her big decision to switch her major, and it was they who got the privilege in helping her choose to go to Kent. They haven't seen her for several months, but it's understandable, seeing as all of them have been incredibly busy.

Marie's reverie is broken by Daniel running into the room and asking her to help with his cap. She agrees, running a finger through her long brown hair, adjusting her glasses, and pulling the cap tightly over his head. "Thanks," he shyly grins at her.

"No problem, bro." she replies, patting him on the cheek. She wrinkles her nose. "You seriously need to shave."

"Why should I?" he asks defiantly. "I think my beard makes me look dignified."

She snickers. "And I think it makes you look like a caveman!" She laughs out loud at the shocked look on his face then takes the opportunity to grab her cap and run out of the room. "Come on, we don't want to be late!" she shrieks, and he chases her down the campus to where the other students are assembling.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After what seems like forever, all of the diplomas have been handed out and caps have gone missing from being tossed into the air. Daniel and Marie find each other among the maze of students and wander off to find their mother, with limited success until Daniel suggests that they look near the science buildings. Obviously, he was right, as she is standing impatiently with a camera, ready to take the obligatory pictures. "Alright, alright children, let's take these and get out of here, I would like to get Daniel's things out of the dormitory and into his flat." Marie rolled her eyes; she and her mother had not been on speaking terms since she had changed her major, but she still put her arm around her brother, held up her diploma, and grinned proudly. After several snaps of the camera, their mother turns it off and motions for them to get moving. Marie sighed with relief. "A few more hours and I finally don't have to talk to her."

"Oh, come on Rie," Daniel replied, "You and mom just have to agree to disagree and move on."

Marie was about to jab back at him when a familiar accented voice stole her thunder. "Now where would the fun in that be?"

The twins turn in unison, and were greeted by a familiar mane of curly red hair. Daniel grins as his sister and their mutual best friend squeal and run into each other's arms. Then Charlotte breaks loose and runs to him, a huge grin on her face that sets his heart a-flutter and he envelopes her in his arms, picking her up and twirling her in the air as she shrieks with such happiness that their mother turns around in annoyance. Marie takes this as an opportunity. "Mom! Why don't you take a picture of the three of us?"

"Now, Marie, we do not have the time for another photograph..."

"Oh come on Mom," Daniel mercifully cuts her off, "We're the Three Musketeers!"

They stand there, anticipating a 'no' answer, when their mother sighs and concedes. "Alright, one more."

The three of them wrap their arms around each other; Daniel in the middle, with Charlotte on his right and Marie on his left. Just before the camera shutter snaps, Charlotte reaches behind him and removes his cap, placing it on her own head and grinning proudly as the camera clicks one, two, three times. When it's finally done, their mother tells them to hurry up, and Charlotte's mother and step-father (they think it's her step-father, after all, that's not what they remember her father looking like) find them and tell Charlotte she has to leave. They group hug regretfully one last time, then go their separate ways, hoping that their friendship stays strong through the coming years.

**A/N**: I like reviews. Did you know I like reviews? Well, now you do. So please review!


	4. Fault

**A/N**: So…this chapter is probably the most angst-ridden one I have written ever, because it contains a major character death…sorry, but I felt like I needed some serious character development and killing this person off would help the other two grow (in my mind).

It's been six years since graduation. Daniel has maintained a position as a physics professor at the college. It's a good job, really, he gets a nice salary and Charlotte is working on her DPhil in Cultural Anthropology here as well, so they always hang out together during their free time. His lab assistant, Theresa, usually tags along at Daniel's insistence (and Charlotte's annoyance, though he can't see why she is annoyed), because Marie isn't around to be a fitting third wheel, so Theresa will have to do. The semi-fitting arrangement has been disrupted as of late because of Charlotte's trip to Africa. Marie's arrival should fill the void temporarily, and Charlotte's return from her trip should let the trio get some quality time together. He continues pacing near the baggage claim until he hears a familiar shout. "Daniel!"

He turns and sees the whirlwind of brown that is his younger twin sister running towards him. Even at the age of twenty eight both of them feel like young kids again when they see each other after long separations. He opens up his arms and they hug, laughing happily. "Hey Marie! I thought you'd never make it!"

"Well, now I have," she replies, her mouth twitched up into a smile. She drags him to the suitcases. "Come on, help me with my stuff."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They make a pit stop at the university on the way to his flat so that Daniel can collect some papers to grade and Marie can finally see his laboratory. As they step in, Marie makes a low whistle. "Wow. You weren't lying when you said it was like the attic in our house before you blew it up."

"Shut up," Daniel jokingly replied, "You were the one who convinced me to do it."

"Well you could've said no."

Daniel was about to retort with _'Yeah, but you would have bugged me until I did it'_ when the door opened and Theresa stepped into the room. "Hello, who are you?" Theresa asked.

Daniel came to the rescue. "Theresa, this is my younger sister, Marie Faraday. Marie, this is my lab assistant and friend Theresa Spencer."

Marie stuck out her hand. "It's nice to finally meet someone I hear so much about."

Theresa perked up. "Really? I've heard so much about you that I was beginning to think you didn't exist. He doesn't have one picture of you in here."

"Really? Not one picture?" Marie's left hand opens up and slaps Daniel on the back of the head. "Shame on you, Danny-boy."

She and Theresa laugh as Daniel rubs the back of his head, and Theresa points to the glittering stone on Marie's ring finger of the hand that smacked Daniel. "Are you engaged?"

"Yes, I am," Marie replies, holding up her hand so Theresa can see the diamond, "The wedding is three months away and my fiancée and I are going nuts."

Theresa takes Marie's hand and inspects the ring. "Well I hope you and your fiancée find happiness."

Marie smiles. "Thank you. Why don't we leave Daniel in peace and go in the back so you can tell me sordid stories about my brother and how he spends all of his time up here."

Theresa laughs, then nervously glances at Daniel. "Well follow me, then. And I'd like to here about this fiancée of yours."

"Carter." Marie corrects, and follows the other woman into the back room.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, how was your conversation with Theresa?" Daniel asks as they walk to their favorite Chinese restaurant.

"It was alright, just about the formal things," she replies, "I wanted to know about your work and she wanted to know about Carter. She's a sweet girl, but I still wish Charlotte were here. When is she getting back, by the way? And Theresa also has a major crush on you."

"Charlotte should be back near the end of your stay so maybe we'll have a few days together…wait…what?" Daniel quizzically asks.

"You can't see it?" she replies. "No, you're a guy, so of course you don't." Ignoring Daniel's glare, she continued. " But here's how you can tell. When she looks at you, it's like…it's like how Carter looked at me before his friends finally convinced him to ask me out. Or how you look at Charlotte sometimes."

"_What?!"_ Daniel asked, his voice going one or two octaves higher than he would have liked.

Marie smirks. "I know for a fact that my big brother has had a crush on a certain girl ever since you were six years old. How else would the chocolates that Miss Juliet had given me gone missing? Oh, come on, Charlotte shared them with me one day when you were off trying to figure out how the force of gravity affected something or the other."

"Okay, firstly, I do _not_ have a crush on Charlotte. Second, those were our chocolates, not just yours."

"Who are you trying to convince Danny? Me or you?"

Their conversation is interrupted by a noise ahead. Daniel and Marie look up and see a man bursting out of a convenience store with a gun in his right hand. They both sand dead in their tracks as the man ponders them. Then everything begins to more in slow motion for Daniel. He sees the man raise the gun. He hears two cracks. He turns just in time to see two bullets tearing through Marie's chest and watching her fall to the ground. As the other man runs away, everything goes back to normal time as he sees his sister lying in a pool of her own blood. "No, no, no, no, no, no Marie! Stay with me! MARIE!" he shouts in agony as he collapses next to her and gathers her in his arms, trying to staunch the flow of blood with his hands. He hears people in the distance shouting to call for an ambulance, someone's been shot, get the police, _do something_. But the only thing he sees is Marie's smile as she recognizes him for one last time, then her shuddering breath as the sparkle in her eyes goes out one last time.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The funeral is finally over, thank God, and Marie is officially six feet under. Daniel is sitting, collapsed in his chair, exhausted from the sheer act of having to bury his baby sister. Pieces of the conversation with the doctors in the hospital are still floating in his mind: _died instantly, didn't suffer, tried everything you could, it's not your fault_. Daniel's mindset, on the other hand, is that it was completely his fault, that he should have taken the bullets instead of her, that he should have been the one to die first, Marie had so much more life left to live. He's so caught up in his thoughts that he doesn't notice the woman sitting next to him and putting a hand on his arm. "How are you holding up?"

He looks up and sees Charlotte's beautiful copper ringlets and blue eyes that are sad now, the same hair and eyes that will always be synonymous with the last conversation he had with Marie about his supposed 'feelings' for Charlotte. His sad eyes tell the whole story, and she moves her arm to the back of his neck-and right now he's so thankful that she managed to make it to the funeral last-minute. She stands, and he almost tells her not to go. "Take as long as you need," she says, "I'm going to start heading to the car." As she begins to walk away, he looks around at the people gathered. Carter and his family are here, he and Daniel had already exchanged brief words before his mother led him away. Several of Marie's friends from work are here as well, not that he knows them, but they've come up to him and told him what a lovely person she had been, how promising her career was, how they'll miss her. Even Mother showed up for a brief time, standing in the back and leaving before the burial, drying her tears on a handkerchief. His gaze move towards the tombstone with her name on it, wondering if it would have gone the same way if this had been his funeral.

A blonde woman approaches him shyly. "Are you Daniel?" she asks.

"Yes," he responds, standing. "And you are…"

"Alicia Weston. I worked with Marie at the TV station," she says, shaking his hand. "That was a beautiful eulogy you gave."

"Thank you," he responds, and they stand in awkward silence before she pipes up again. "I have a few of Marie's things from work in my car," she says, "Would you like me to go get them?"

"Yes, absolutely," he replies, and follows her. She arrives at what he assumes is her car, because she opens the trunk and pulls out a box. Alicia hands it to him. "Here. I grabbed everything that she had in and on her desk."

"Thanks," he replies again, and takes the box from her. She nods and expresses her sympathy one last time before shutting the trunk and getting into the car. He walks away to his car and places the box inside. Charlotte's already in the passenger side and curiously looks at him. "What is that?" she asks.

"Memories," he solemnly replies, then gets in and turns on the ignition.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He and Charlotte have been sitting in solace for the past few hours, sifting through the box of Marie's things. There are plenty of pictures; one of her and Carter on some river cruise, others of her and her girlfriends, one of him and Charlotte that someone (presumably Marie) took when neither of them were looking. Charlotte is sifting through the papers, organizing them in some non-pattern. He sighs and looks away, when something in the bottom of the box catches his eye, and he lifts it into the light. It's the picture from graduation, him and her in caps and gowns, showing off their new diplomas, and Charlotte wearing his cap, all of them laughing as if there was no tomorrow.

He solemnly takes the photograph out of the frame and flips it over. Marie had captioned it in her neat handwriting: _The Three Musketeers - Me, Danny, Char. Graduation 1991. _Who could have known that six short years later, she would be dead. As he begins to cry for what was, Charlotte sits next to him and wraps her arms around him, also sobbing. That's how they wake up the next morning, sore from sitting up all night. She leaves for England several hours later and he follows her the next day, not knowing how to heal.

**A/N 2**: As much as it kills me to kill off Marie, I felt it would advance the plot. So RIP, Marie Victoria Faraday, 1969-1997.

Review, hopefully it'll make my Life Happens muse wake up.


End file.
